Kizer needs to change the script in the final home game of 2017 -- Bud Shaw's Sports Spin

Updated on Dec 16, 2017 at 05:32 PM EST

Cleveland Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer warms up prior to the game against the Green Bay Packers at FirstEnergy stadium.
Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com

Cleveland Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer is protected in the pocket on a pass play in the fourth quarter, December 10, 2017, at Cleveland Browns headquarters in Berea.
John Kuntz, cleveland.com

Cleveland Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer runs for a first down as Green Bay Packers linebacker Ahmad Brooks reaches for a tackle during the first half at FirstEnergy Stadium. Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017. John Kuntz, cleveland.com

Cleveland Browns quarterback DeShone Kizer walks off the field after losing to the Green Bay Packers in overtime, 27-21, December 10, 2017, at Cleveland Browns headquarters in Berea.
John Kuntz, cleveland.com
(John Kuntz)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Pick a book title for DeShone Kizer's rookie season: "The Trial?" "Things Fall Apart?" "Nothing but Trouble?"

They all fit this story of tribulation mixed with more tribulation.

The home portion ends Sunday against Baltimore at the lakefront after which the Browns finish the season in Chicago and Pittsburgh.

Whatever happens, Kizer deserves some applause for a job done.

"If we are going to go and get our first win, we would love to get it in front of our home crowd," he told reporters.

"Obviously, the end of the season can go one of two ways: It can create momentum going into next year or you can reset after this year and try to squash and put it behind you."

One Sunday, the first NFL Sunday in September, Ben Roethlisberger was calling him a "helluva player" and his debut an "awesome start."

Thirteen Sundays later, the Browns still haven't won and a grinder of a season has resulted in a league-high 17 interceptions for a kid who won't turn 22 until January.

If that were all, you'd chalk it up to a typical rookie season for the QB of the youngest team in the NFL. But when you consider the other factors involved, Kizer didn't just need a veteran mentor. He could've used a life coach as well.

He was down the depth chart in preseason, then named starter, then benched for Kevin Hogan, then reinstated.

Hue Jackson professed faith in him long term but still lobbied for a trade for AJ McCarron at the high price of a second-round and third-round pick. When the Patriots traded Jimmy Garoppolo to San Francisco for a second-round pick, coaching staff leaks suggested Sashi Brown was asleep on the job. That made it pretty clear how desperate some coaches were for a QB upgrade.

Brown might've lost his standing with the owner more for the non-deal with New England than the botched deal with Cincinnati.

In either case, Kizer got a clear message: his team didn't see him as the answer to its problems.

Jackson romping across the field in Cincinnati to hug McCarron and introduce him to Jimmy Haslam was a good indication Haslam was on board with his head coach in the fractured relationship with the front office. But Kizer couldn't even find solace in that.

In naming him the starter this season, the Browns made him the pick of a litter of runts. There wasn't and still isn't, of course, a single NFL win in the Browns' QB room.

Maybe that sped Brown's departure, too. Who knows? What we do know is new GM John Dorsey's first week on the job probably didn't do much to improve Kizer's self-esteem.

Dorsey called in Browns scouts for a meeting and gave them their first homework assignment.

"I had (the scouts) take the top 12 quarterbacks in the draft and watch them as a group and have discussions, talk about it, and let me see what your rankings are in two days," Dorsey said on Cleveland Browns Daily on 850 WKNR. "That's kind of what we were doing today. I just want to get a feel for not only their ability to scout but to see what these quarterbacks are."

It was just an exercise but then again it wasn't an exercise to rank the top 12 receivers. Kizer couldn't possibly have been surprised since Haslam said Dorsey's charge was finding a quarterback.

Look, Kizer isn't a victim in all this. That's not what I'm saying. Had he played better, had he played as well as he did against Pittsburgh, it's a different story. He didn't. And so there's been a laundry list of negative input that must've been difficult for him to block out.

Just this weekend comes
speculation from ESPN's Adam Schefter
that the Patriots might've felt they owed Garoppolo a trade to San Francisco rather than to the Browns because Cleveland is where quarterback careers go kaput.

So ... is that what he has going for him as 2017 comes to an end? That he's not the first Browns QB to get run over, then backed over by the same truck?

He has one more chance at home to change the script. Kizer's first time around against the Ravens, Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh said this about him before the game:

"(Kizer is a) super talented, super smart, you can tell, a poised passer, big arm-guy, true quarterback pro-style quarterback. We are just preparing for that. That's what we expect from DeShone Kizer."

That turned into a three interceptions, 24-10 loss and a migraine.

We can say this much. He's tough. He's resilient.

Somehow he has generally managed to keep his aching head about him through as tough a rookie season as they come.